With nearly every other main street named after a Russian military hero
or a gruesome battle, its lovely seafront promenade dominated by a
“monument to sunken ships” and its central square named after the
imperial admiral who commanded Russian forces against French, British
and Turkish troops in the 19th century, Sevastopol constantly feeds
thoughts of war and its agonies.

Bombarded with reminders of the Crimean War, which involved a near
yearlong siege of the city in 1854-55, and World War II, when the city
doggedly resisted Nazi forces until finally falling in July 1942,
Sevastopol has never stopped thinking about wartime losses — and has
never been able to cope with the amputation carried out in 1954 by the
Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev.

… When Ukraine became a separate independent nation
near the end of 1991, however, Sevastopol — the home of Russia’s Black
Sea Fleet since the 18th century — began howling, culminating in the
Crimean Parliament’s decision on Thursday to hold a referendum
on March 16 on whether to break away from Ukraine and formally become
part of Russia again. Jubilant residents gathered in Sevastopol.

… “Every
stone and every tree in Sevastopol is drenched in blood, with the
bravery and courage of Russian soldiers,” said [Irina Neverova, a guide at Sevastopol’s Crimean War museum]. “This is obviously Russia, not Ukraine,” Ms. Neverova said later in an interview.